'Tracking Cookies' From Sites Not Visited Would Be Blocked By Default

SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 19, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Consumer Watchdog today praised Mozilla as the nonprofit foundation announced it would move forward with addition of a setting in its popular Firefox browser to block the most intrusive tracking "cookies" by default.

Cookies are little bits of computer code that can be placed on a browser so that your activity can be tracked as you surf across the web. The most invasive tracking is done by sites the user hasn't even visited -- so-called 3rd-party sites, Consumer Watchdog said.

"Most people don't want to be spied on when they go online," said John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog's Privacy Director. "Mozilla is now making privacy protection the default. You can't get any more user-friendly than that."

Earlier this year Mozilla said Firefox -- like Apple's Safari – would block cookies from sites not actually visited by the user. The blocking patch that was added to a trial version of Firefox was developed by Stanford graduate student and researcher Jonathan Mayer. However, Mozilla delayed implementation after it expressed technical concerns about false positives and false negatives and to date has continued their internal testing.

The online ad industry expressed outrage at the earlier announcement, with one trade association executive calling the move a "nuclear first-strike," even though Apple's Safari has used the setting for over a decade.

Mozilla made today's announcement after Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society launched a "Cookie Clearinghouse." The clearinghouse, created by Privacy researcher Aleecia McDonald, would provide browsers with lists so the problem of false positives and false negatives would be avoided.

"Mozilla should be congratulated for their dedication to protect consumer privacy in the face of extreme industry pressure," said Simpson. "They have also demonstrated a justifiable concern about getting this right from a technical point of view and Stanford's Cookie Clearinghouse was key to solving those issues. Kudos to both."